[sunflower44]

I suffered the same thing for YEARS. (Like, almost 20 of them.) It was awful. I completely understand how you feel.

I started this year off using a product called Prevegyne which I purchased from the pharmacy at Target. It is a series of slow-release vitamin C tablets inserted into the vagina. After doing much research, I discovered everything wrong with the way I was treating my lady parts. Myself and my teenage daughter decided to throw out all of our commercial menstrual products due to this research. All tampons, always pads and kotex pantyliners were tossed in the trash. I went online and ordered Mediterranean delfino silk sea sponges ranging in size from 1.5 inches to 3 inches. I treated them with boiling water with peroxide soak and squeezed them in every direction to make sure all sea debris was removed. I went on wazoodle.com to order a material called 'Zorb'. I went to my local fabric store with my daughter to buy minkee, cotton flannel, quilter's cotton, and PUL. I purchased a bag of scrap microfleece from a woman who makes and sells cloth baby diapers. It was so fun for us to pick out fun fabrics we loved. I developed my own patterns using large cardboard from cereal boxes and the like from my recycle bin to make the patterns durable and quick and easy to trace. Now we use reusable pads and pantiliners and I also use natural sea sponges as tampons. (The sea sponges will last 3 to 6 mos).

Before we switched to natural products, I constantly suffered from yeast infections after every period and BV at least 2x a year which would require several rounds of antibiotics. Not the way I wanted to live (as I'm certain you don't either). My daughters periods would last a good 8 to 9 days and be very heavy using her commercial pads. Now she is much less heavy and her periods are 4 to 5 days. And she is more aware of what her body is doing every month. My periods were anywhere from 6 days to 2 weeks long, so heavy I couldn't even leave the house on my third day, and I would pass clots the size of golf balls. Incredibly painful and inconvenient. I was skeptical about all of the women online claiming that their periods became significantly less heavy after switching to reusable products, but it was worth a shot. (Not to mention how much less is going to the landfill from the 2 women in my house!) No joke, the first month, I soaked my sea sponge in water with apple cider vinegar before squeezing out the excess and inserting it. (Holy Hannah! It was so nice to not feel like my insides were being ripped apart by a dry tampon!) When I switched to my lighter sponge, it was treated in water with Tea Tree essential oil. My periods last 4 days, the last day being spotting only this has been for every month this year (the first 2 months I was convinced it was just some kind of weird fluke. Definitely not the case). I have not had a single infection. (Yay me!) I have tried to create a lovely pH balanced environment down there and it appears to be working! I have new freedom in that I can now leave the house anytime during my cycle. Oh, btw, for anyone who may read this and be grossed out...your period is not gross. Your period doesn't even have a foul odor (commercial tampon and pad chemicals cause odor), as for the questions of REUSING? Yes. Do you throw out your underwear or fave jeans if you have a leak? Heck no. You wash them. Do some research, ladies. Treat your bodies right.

To you, Sunflower, I hope you find your cure, no matter what it is. I just wanted to give you my experience. Best of luck!

1beautyguru, thank you so much for sharing your experience! It is definitely something I will look into. It seems if it's not my period then it's this mess of BV/Yeast bothering me down there; never a break! At the moment I am taking zinc and a vitamin B maxi complex to see if it resolves anything. I am thinking about getting a vaginal screening kit to see what my problem is, or at least, shed a different light, since doctors don't help very much.

[sunflower44]

Wanted to update this thread! I am currently taking vitamin D, zinc, & vitamin B mega complex.

Ladies, I wanted to ask: has anyone heard of solving BV with half water half hydrogen peroxide? Some call it douching while others describe it as filling up that mixture in an empty vaginal applicator.

I've read women raving about it and how it works instantly! Any thoughts of this?

Thanks everyone!

[sf1073]

Sunflower44: I have tried every BV remedy under the sun and only one made my BV WORSE (although few made it better): the Hydrogen Peroxide douche. My usual symptoms are light green discharge, but the day after I tried the douche I woke up to a flood, and I mean a FLOOD of dark, vegetable green discharge that looked like a toxic waste special effect from a post-apocalyptic movie. It was so horrifying that I cried when I saw it and needed an emergency prescription of metrogel, which I normally try to stay away from. So use the HP douche with caution--in my experience, what the doctor says about douching is exactly right. Don't do it.

[sunflower44]

Thank you sf1073! Your experience is unfortunate :/. I agree with your last statement, it's something I've always heard and stood by. I never douched ever and so this is when I bend that rule of mine. I hope it works in some way however!

I know we are all not doctors here but ladies, I have a question: I do not feel like I have BV, but a nasty chronic Yeast Infection. The reason being: I do NOT have a foul smell; the yellow/white discharge is clumpy/cottage cheese like, intense itching, and raw irritated skin in front and back. Although my dr diagnosed me with BV, my gut tells me otherwise. Could I have a mix of both?

Sunflower44: I have tried every BV remedy under the sun and only one made my BV WORSE (although few made it better): the Hydrogen Peroxide douche. My usual symptoms are light green discharge, but the day after I tried the douche I woke up to a flood, and I mean a FLOOD of dark, vegetable green discharge that looked like a toxic waste special effect from a post-apocalyptic movie. It was so horrifying that I cried when I saw it and needed an emergency prescription of metrogel, which I normally try to stay away from. So use the HP douche with caution--in my experience, what the doctor says about douching is exactly right. Don't do it.